You'd think it's just about knitting and travel, but it's really about life, love, faith...and food

Saturday, July 8, 2017

Summer's Shadow Shawl from Hemstitched Heirlooms - Day 4

Life is like a row of lacework...

The nice thing about short rows of lacework is that you don’t really have to worry about getting lost. This panel, as it flows along the lower edge of all that garter stitch, is definitely knitter-friendly. Sets of P2s separate the three designs, giving you little milestones in each row. Hit the P2s when you’re supposed to? Good—you haven’t dropped a stitch, missed a yarn-over, or messed up some other way. It’s as if each row has several built-in pats on the back to let you know you’re doing okay. Not enough of life works like that, in my opinion.

I still can’t decide if the vibrancy of the color is going to overwhelm the clarity of the lacework. Sometimes, you can have too much going on in a piece. A textured yarn, for example, will often overpower cables or lacework. Long or subtle variegations generally work okay, but a crowd of color changes rarely allows for the negative space needed to let lacework shine. Sure, the design will display if I hold this up to the light, or maybe if I wear it against a white blouse, but I usually want my lacework to be really visible. I want all that hard work to be seen and admired.

That’s not to say it won’t happen with this piece. You simply can’t tell until it’s blocked—it’s too bunched up right now to show its true character. I always say it: lacework is like a lot of things in life—parenting, writing, gardening, baking—you never really know what you’ve got until you’re all the way to the finish line.

Forest Gumpian philosophy aside, I am enjoying the progress of this lace as I work my way across the shawl.